The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1887-06-10
INDIA Z UBBER.
| How the Natives 81 Costa Rica
Take ii to Market.
A Thrifty Tree Able 10 Yield Moro Than
Fifty Pounds Of Rubber.

Rica IS the collection ot caoutchOucs
pronounced keeshook, with the accent
strong on the frstA sylIable), IS ths ma
tive Indians call that substance to US
known as India rubber Not many
years ago, says tie Providence Journal,
more than 100, 900 pounds of II were
shipped every month from GraytoWn
alone, but at present the average export
per month IS only about 60 900 pounds.
| This considerable falling oil is due to-
the fact that no legal or other suryeil
lance is exercised over the gathering Of
the gum, and with the customary i'm
providence Of hese people many Of.
| the valuable trees which yield it have
| been ruined. The. Yularoes Or rubbeg
hunters are the most ignorant and irreeA
sponsibie creatures, whose first object
| when out ID a hunt is to secure as much
caoutchouc as possible and next to dam
age the prospects IF other Yularoes, re-
| gardless Of the future
! "a thrifty tree at its first cutting,
ought 70 yield not less than fifty
pounds Of rubber but the hunters Of to-
day find few 50 profitable unless they
| penetrate far into the virgin forests and
are lucky enough to discover an entirely
new district. In those sections already
worked most of the trees have been
tapped several times and many of them
were spoiled at the outset By having
been cut too young-its greedy discov-
erer fearing that il the prize were left
to attain perfection another might find
and secure it. Were the matter regulat-
ed by judicious laws, SO that only ma
ture trees might be tapped, and those
/ not to an extent to cause death, the
production Of caoutchouc would be
greatly increased. Recently the Costa
Rican government has offered extensive
I grants of land to any who will devote
them to the culture of rubber trees but
SO far few have availed themselves Of
the opportunity. NE
| Many attempts have been made to i'm
port the juice Of the tree in its natural
state, but so far none of these efforts
have succeeded. While in liquid form
it may be fashioned into any shape BY
means Of molds, but no process has yet
besn discovered T. prevent its sehdify-
ing. There is always a good deal Of
partially hardened caoutchouc adhering
to the bark of the tree, which is torn off
in long, stringy masses, called berucha.
Of course, this is not nearly 50 valuable
as the solid cakes, and is more. especial
lily the product of those trees that have
been cut several times, and therefore
cannot yield copious flow of sap; but
it is wrapped up in bundles and exported
for various purposes. Commercially
speaking, the caoutchouc Of Paris is
considered best, and commands the
highest price in. market, while that from
the west coast Of Africa is least desira-
BILE, being only slightly elastic, and dixie
its collectors) extremely offensive in odor.
Great quantities are also brought from
British India. Mauritius, and the
Indian archipelago.
The milky juice, which plays now SO
| important part among the earths pro-
!. ductions, was first used by those Central
American Indians. Their caoutchouc
Twas made known to the world as elastic
gum, and was long afterWard given the
name of rubber from the discovery of
| its usefulness i9 rubbing out the marks
of black lead pencils. For the latter
/ purpose it began to be imported into
Great Britain toward the close Of the
last century, and beng much valued BY
artists was sold at high price. EARLY
1 in 1880 the Spanish conquistadores in
Mexico had learned to make caoutchouc
| into shoes and also used it for waxing
I their canvas cloaks to make them resist
| water something IS HE clothing Of the
modern Yularo is coated. That, no
doubt, was the origin Of the idea Of its
manufacture into waterproof cloth,
which first gaveit gfeat commercial i'm
| portance. Not until 1870 did its EN-.
ployment begin to axsend much beyond
| the erasing ef pencil marks, though the
! quantity imported had considerably ia
II
creased.
Amusing the Rahr.